Where does “slackness” come from?
I need to work through this chain carefully, but I notice there are significant problems with it that make it impossible to write an accurate etymology sentence.
The chain as given appears malformed:
- It lists "Old English -nes" twice
- It jumps from "German Schlacke" to "Old English -nes" without clear connection
- The Proto-Indo-European entries at the end ("-eh₂yéti" and "-eh₂") don't clearly connect to the earlier material
- The chain doesn't clearly show how "slack" + "-ness" (the English suffix) combines
For "slackness," the etymology should show:
- Modern English "-ness" (a suffix)
- Connected to Old English "-nes" (the suffix)
- Plus the root "slack"
But the provided chain doesn't coherently establish this path or explain the sense development.
**I cannot
slackness (English): The state of being slack; the quality of having...
Definitions
- The state of being slack; the quality of having...
Ancestry of “slackness”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -ness | Appended to adjectives to form nouns meaning "the... |
| 2 | Middle English | -nesse | Affixed to adjectives to form abstract nouns... |
| 3 | Old English | -nes | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -nassī | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -inassuz | -ness |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -ī | -ness, -th |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -į̄ | -th |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |